Criminal – Pleas & Sentencing

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WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case No:2014AP2840-CR

Case Name: State of Wisconsinv. Christopher Joseph Allen

Officials: Curley, P.J., Kessler and Brennan, JJ.

Pertinent Practice Areas: Criminal – Pleas  & Sentencing

Christopher Joseph Allen comes to this court asking for a new sentencing hearing. He contends that State v. Leitner, 2002 WI 77, 253 Wis. 2d 449, 646 N.W.2d 341, prohibited the circuit court from considering the fact that Allen had previously completed supervision in a case expunged pursuant to WIS. STAT. § 973.015 (2013-14). In Leitner, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that a sentencing court could consider “the facts underlying a record of conviction expunged under § 973.015.” Leitner, 253 Wis. 2d 449, ¶48. Allen argues that the “facts” referenced by Leitner are only those facts relating to the crime underlying the expunged conviction, and do not include those facts underlying the expunged criminal record. We disagree. Both the sentencing court’s obligation to sentence a defendant based upon the full knowledge of the defendant’s character and behavior, see id., ¶45, and the legislature’s desire in passing the expunction statute to only shield a defendant from some of the harsh consequences of criminal convictions, see id., ¶38, require us to read Leitner to permit a sentencing court to consider all the facts underlying the expunged criminal record. As such, we affirm.

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